Friday, October 07, 2005

Сегодня суббота, 8-ое октября. The show is still recorded at my temp 'studio' away from my home in New Orleans.

In this podcast you will learn how to say the days of the week in Russian, as well as count from 1-10. You will also find out why you shouldn't get stressed over stress in Russian words. We will take a look at some simple sentence structures and word order within sentences as well....This might be the largest 'Spoonful of Russian' ever, but it's all good!

Correction: In the beginning of the podcast I got the date wrong. The show was being recorded on Friday, Oct, 7th. You will hear me say: "Today is Saturday, 7th of October." Oops!

Just to add to our past lesson - there are noun, adjective and verb cognates in Russian, and they can help you speak smoothly and easily, making you sound very natural. But don't let false cognates trick you into saying something you don't intend!

I'd like to answer a question of one of my listeners. He was asking about the role of the 'hard sign' and the 'soft sign' in the Russian alphabet. The soft sign 'мягкий знак' has no sound of its own. Rather it tells you that the consonant before it is soft. (учитель).....The hard sign 'твердый знак' has no sound of its own as well. It indicates that the preceeding consonant is hard. You make a slight break in the word, immediately after the consonant it follows. (объем - volume - объем).

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- Что это? Это кофе?- Нет, это не кофе. Это чай.

- What is this? Is this coffee?- No, it's not coffee. It's tea.

and now a slightly different dialogue:

- Кто это? Это учитель?- Нет, это не учитель. Это студент.

- Who is this? Is this a teacher?- No, It is not a teacher. It is a student.

Jamie, if I understand you correctly you wish my podcasts were longer. I wish I could make them longer, but unfortunately time does not allow. It takes a whole day to plan the lesson, write show notes, record audio, mix voice and music, finalize and upload. I am not complaining, I love doing it, but it's the truth:) ...plus I am a full time wife, mom and homeschooling teacher.

I do appreciate your interest in the Russian languae, Jamie. Good luck!

Hello, Natalia, your russian lessons are great! You know, I'm from Russia and this is the best web Russian manual I have ever met. I like a song about black cat so much! And I think, I can help somebody with his Russian, becouse I have a 2 English speaking penpals and I want to chat with others. GoodBye. P.S. Come and see my blog www.m-i-d.blogspot.com

Здравствуйте, мисс Наталия, I noticed that some words that have the lower case "g" letter like "хорошего" are pronounced with the "v" sound, even among other words with the lower case "v" used (хватило) and words where the "g" is pronounced with the actual "g" sound (Когда). Is there a rule for when the "g" should be pronounced as "v"?

PS What a fun way to get back into speaking Russian! Thanks so much :)

The grapheme g is pronounced /v/ in genitive desinences and the genitive singular non- feminine personal pronoun (cf. его -'his', первого -'first', сегодня -'today', etc. ). The pronunciation of words, like 'Когда' is learned.In other words, In the combination of letters ЕГО (yeva) and ОГО (ava) it is pronounced "v", when the vowel PRECEDING 'Г' , either 'E' or 'O', is not stressed:

I am not from US. I live in Argentina and I am studying with a teacher and a little group (basic level). I love this language. And I love this site because it is very helpful.

By the way, The song in Lesson 6 is so sweet, it makes me cry like a baby every time I hear it. The title is very touching, and I tried to translate the song but it was impossible. I would die to know what it says. Is it too much to ask you to put the English translation of that song?

I found your site by accident, but I think it's the best find of the year! Oh my god this is great.

Is there anyway to get a list of your top 100 songs?!?! You have excellent taste in music, and I'd like to know more of it, I am thinking listening to Russian music will help me in my studies greatly (I'm not doing to well!)Desiree